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The firm also saw a 50pc boost in
online sales on the previous year. New Look had endured a torrid two
years in which it abandoned a £1.7bn float in February 2010 after a
prolonged period of poor sales.

This was caused by moving its head office, including its buying and merchandising departments, from Weymouth to London in 2009.

Many of its experienced buyers didn’t
follow, and at one point as much as half of its buying team was new and
the firm lost its direction. It was also jingle bells at the tills for
House of Fraser which posted a storming 6.3pc rise in underlying sales
for the 6-weeks to January 5.

Much of the strong performance was due to a 48pc rise in online sales, with fashion and beauty particularly popular.

Chairman, Don McCarthy said: ‘There
is no doubt that 2012 was a challenging year in retail and it remains
difficult to predict when economic conditions and consumer sentiment
will improve.’